At 11:17 PM 11/7/95, Lou Talman wrote:>> When we assess ability of students to work cooperatively in groups,>> do we not...>>That's a very pretty pair of observations, Ron. I wish I'd seen>them before you pointed them out to us.>>An important point I'd prefer not go unnoticed is that it is really>*assessment* that drives competition. I've heard many folks bad-mouth>assessment. But none of them think that it'd be a bad idea to check>their heart surgeon's record before he operates on their own personal>machinery. I presume they'd "assess" his qualifications before...>>--LouWell, the next time I've got a K-12 mathematics student about to performheart surgery on me, I'll definitely ask to see her grades from Algebra II;^)

What seems to be missing in this conversation are clear positions on WHY weassess: that is, there are plenty of unstated assumptions about the goalsof assessment, but very little explicit unpacking of those assumptions.Aside from repeating cliches like "what you assess is what you value" and"let's make assessment part of the learning process," both of which aregreat ideas with which I agree, I'd like to throw this on the table: if thepurpose of assessment is to help students and teachers get feedback on howwell they've "done their jobs" (a concept that itself needs seriousunpacking), I'm all for it. We all want to know our strengths andweaknesses and to get clues about where (and how) we can best improveourselves as learners and teachers.

If the primary purpose of assessment, however, is rank-ordering,humiliation, 'punishment,' and, in general, in line with the same mentalitythat informs another of our troubled institutions, the prison system, thenI think we've got to rethink things just a little bit.

Finally, I like to suggest that teachers assessing their own students maybe inherently contradictory to the primary role of teachers as supporters.Imagine if parents gave grades to their children starting in infancy: "Oh,Jimmy isn't walking at age-level. I think we need to move him over to thatSlow-Walker group for remediation." Granted, many parents DO in fact act asif they are grading their children on everything from school performance tobutt-wiping; and many of those same parents are at the front of the linecalling for "accountability" and "back-to-basics" in schools. But justbecause amateurs act in a questionable manner, that doesn't mean thatprofessionals are obligated to do likewise.